Oil rallies on reports of output freeze pact

Brent crude oil prices hit a four-month high on Tuesday after reports of an agreement among two major producers to freeze output, boosting energy stocks, even as the US dollar was having its strongest session in three weeks.

Crude prices rose to bring gains over the past three sessions to more than 10 per cent, after Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a diplomatic source in Doha saying Russia and Saudi Arabia reached consensus about an oil output freeze ahead of a producers' meeting on April 17.

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On Wall Street, energy sector shares posted the most gains and the S&P 500 hit its highest level of the session shortly after the output freeze headlines.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 156.04 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 17,712.45, the S&P 500 gained 15.84 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 2,057.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 29.55 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 4,862.95. The FTSEurofirst index of 300 major European companies rose 0.6 per cent, also led by energy names.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe added 0.5 per cent, its fourth gain in the past five sessions.

Earlier, Japanese shares rose 1.1 per cent after a rally in the yen against the dollar stalled on Tuesday, lifting shares of exporters.

The US dollar also strengthened against the euro for only the third session in the last 12. The dollar index ticked up 0.13 per cent, still its strongest session in three weeks.

Currencies of commodity-based economies like the Canadian dollar also rose. Against the greenback, the loonie hit its strongest level in nine months. "It's a commodity kind of day," said John Doyle, director of markets at Tempus Consulting in Washington. "Oil is now more than 50 per cent stronger than it was at its low in February. That's boosting general sentiment overall and with that we're seeing a rally in commodity currencies such as the Canadian dollar, which is about 30 per cent higher now from its low in January."

Brent crude was up 3.6 per cent to $44.36 a barrel and US crude rose 3.3 per cent to $41.70. US Treasury yields rose as higher oil and global stock market gains reduced the safe-haven appeal of US government debt ahead of a $24 billion three-year note sale.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes fell 12/32 in price to yield 1.7656 per cent from 1.724 late on Monday.